15/10/2005
NEWS STORY
Following yesterday's puncture, Christian Klien only participated in today's fourth practice session, having effectively lost one of his permitted four sets of tyres. His team-mate David Coulthard participated in both sessions and was on the pace, setting the fifth fastest time, behind the McLarens and Renaults. In qualifying, David was seventh fastest, while Christian was 14th. The duo will line up in the same positions tomorrow for the start of the Chinese Grand Prix.
David Coulthard: The car's brake balance seemed quite predictable this morning, although we put more aero in the car for qualifying, to counterbalance the understeer. Despite that, I didn't get it quite right going into Turn one on my qualifying lap, as I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. The rear of the car was a little bit nervous on the warm up lap, so I took caution through Turn one and then built up my speed from there. The Porsche Supercup had run before, which meant the track was a little slippery, but it was the same for everyone and, overall, I'm quite happy with the time I set. Apart from the first sector, the rest of the lap was tidy enough, so hopefully we're going to have a good race tomorrow and get some points. That's how we started the season so that's how we want to finish it.
Christian Klien: I think the track had changed quite a lot for qualifying from how it was this morning. The car's balance seemed out and there was a lot of oversteer, as soon as I turned in there was oversteer, meaning it wasn't possible to do a clean lap. I'm not happy with my performance at all and from this position it's going to be hard to do too much in the race tomorrow. But, I'll be pushing hard and doing all I can to get more points for the team.
Christian Horner, Sporting Director: Having lost a set of tyres following yesterday's puncture, Christian only had one further set available, which we decided to use in today's fourth practice session. In qualifying, David drove a good lap and set a competitive time. He's looked strong here all weekend and is now well placed for the race tomorrow. Christian had a bit of a scrappy lap and made a couple of mistakes, but he should be able to recover from that in the race and I think we're set for an interesting Grand Prix.